Employee Termination

Unfair dismissal – Childcare responsibilities were not a valid reason for failing to comply with Fair Work Commission directions

Mr Praveen Samuel lodged an unfair dismissal application with the Fair Work Commission (the Commission). He failed to respond to correspondence from the Commission by the deadline imposed and his application was dismissed. He sought leave to appeal the decision. The appeal was dismissed on the grounds that there would be no public interest in …
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Unfair dismissal – Can unauthorised annual leave reduce the minimum employment period?

Mr Calleja was employed as a full-time spring maker until his employment was terminated by his employer in March 2021. Mr Calleja subsequently made an unfair dismissal claim. The former employer raised multiple defences to Mr Calleja’s claim, one of which was that Mr Calleja had not been employed for long enough to make an …
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An impartial summary of the new APSC Guidance on the Personal behaviour of APS employees on social media

The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) has published revised guidance on the use of social media by Australian Government public servants. This comes just over a year after the High Court found that anonymous tweets can be a breach of the Australian Public Service’s Code of Conduct (Comcare v Banerji [2019] HCA 23). In that …
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Genuine redundancies during the COVID-19 pandemic

In the recent case of Browne v MySharedServices Pty Ltd [2020] FWC 4445, the Fair Work Commission (Commission) has reasserted the importance of consultation, even during the current COVID-19 pandemic. In this case, Mr Matthew Browne (the Employee) was dismissed without his employer, MySharedServices Pty Ltd (the Employer), undertaking any consultation prior to his termination. …
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Case Update: Employee compensated $200,000 after being dismissed for sharing a Hitler meme

We previously wrote about the decision of the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission in the case of Scott Tracey v BP Refinery (Kwinana) Pty Ltd [2020] FWCFB 820.  This case involved a Western Australia BP employee, Mr Tracey, who was dismissed with payment in lieu of notice after sharing a meme video of …
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Consultation requirement in the redundancy process

Prior consultation of employees is one of the requirements for a redundancy to be genuine under section 389 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Fair Work Act). This section requires, among other things, employers to comply with any consultation obligation found in a Modern Award or Enterprise Agreement. Who do employers need to consult? …
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